


The Dog on the Astronomy Tower

by HoneySim



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Black Family Drama (Harry Potter), Hurt/Comfort, POV Regulus Black, Regulus Black Deserves Better, Regulus Black Feels, Regulus Black Needs a Hug, Regulus Black-centric, Sirius Black as Padfoot, but not much comfort, sad ending really, sirius black probably needs a hug too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29008035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneySim/pseuds/HoneySim
Summary: When Regulus can't sleep, he wanders up to the astronomy tower to stare at the stars. One night, an unexpected visitor joins him, and Regulus finally lets out all of his pent up feelings.
Relationships: Regulus Black & Sirius Black
Comments: 18
Kudos: 100





	The Dog on the Astronomy Tower

Regulus curls up against the stone of the astronomy tower. His thoughts are both overbearing and nonexistent as he stares at the stars.

His namesake.

His ancestors. 

He does this often when he can’t sleep. Regulus has never been one to break the rules— that’s always been Sirius’s job— but there’s only so much of that green canopy over his four-poster that he can take. 

He hasn’t been able to sleep for a long time.

He’s had issues since Sirius left, but they only intensified since—

Regulus shakes his head, and doesn’t let his mind travel down that path.

He can’t.

He can’t let himself think on it.

If he thinks about it or says it aloud, then it’s real. 

At least with his sleeves down in the cold, dark night he can forget. 

He shivers at the thought of being cold. It’s January. There’s snow on the ground, and it’s quite literally freezing.

Regulus has forgone a cloak for— well nothing. 

He’s in his pajamas. Nothing but a shirt and night pants... and a dressing gown, but that hardly provides any warmth.

Nevertheless, he brings it closer around his neck.

To Regulus, the cold is inviting. It’s nice. The bite of the freezing cold, fresh air reminds him that he’s alive.

More alive than he’s felt in a long time.

His eyes traverse the wide sky searching for the constellations that have been ingrained in his head since he was five. Linking the stories to the stars. Remembering the silly stories his brother made up for the stars instead of the long held legends. 

How his brother made up a stupid story of how Canis Major and Leo were best friends and played together in the night sky when nobody was looking. And if someone were to look up, they’d go right back to their original positions. 

In hindsight, that was just a story to get Regulus to play with Sirius when they were told to behave themselves. 

Regulus shakes his head fondly at the memory. He yearns for those simpler times.

Times when all they had to worry about were the constellations and learning proper English and French. He wishes that was all he had to do. 

Regulus is pulled out of his reminiscing and yearning by a light tapping noise. He turns his attention down towards the entrance of the tower. 

He blinks once. Twice. Trying to get his vision to cooperate.

The tapping noise was the sound of claws on stone. The claws belong to the biggest, black dog Regulus has ever seen. 

He feels as if he should be grabbing for his wand, but Regulus— for some odd reason— feels calm in the dog’s presence. 

He eyes the dog for seconds more, then turns his attention back up to the sky. The dog inches closer; he can hear it. 

Its steps almost sound fearful. Hesitant. Like it’s scared of Regulus’s reaction.

Regulus brings his gaze back down again, and the dog is significantly closer. Just a meter or so away, now. 

“Hello. You look a lot fluffier up close,” he observes. “You must be a nightmare when you shed. I definitely wouldn’t want to deal with that.”

The dog huffs, and Regulus raises his eyebrows in the slightest show of amusement. 

“Understand me, huh? You’d be the only one,” he mumbles while looking back up at the sky.

“Aren’t dogs not allowed in the castle?” He pauses as if the dog would answer. “I’m personally more of a cat person, but for some reason I don’t seem to mind you.” Another pause. “You’ve a calming presence, and I don’t know why. It’s odd.” 

Regulus looks back down at the dog. It fully comes up to him now, so the dog’s face is inches away from his own.

The dog has the most startling grey eyes. Startling because Regulus has never known a dog to have eyes like that. 

Eyes almost like his own.

He shakes his head again and lightly scoffs. His eyes went back up to the sky. He sighs. 

The dog lays its head and paws in Regulus’s lap. He lifts his arms up in shock. Unsure if he should allow it. 

He slowly starts petting the dog. “Great now I’m gonna have dog hair all over me.” He complains, but he doesn’t push the dog off. 

Regulus continues to stare at the stars while he pets the dog. 

The whole experience is oddly comforting. He likes the feeling of the dog’s soft fur beneath his fingers. Everything about it is grounding, something Regulus desperately needed after the suffocating winter holiday he had. 

Or the whole suffocating year.

He takes a deep breath and lets it out. The dog copies him. Regulus lets out a scoff that could be interpreted as a huff of laughter. “You’re amusing, you know that?” 

The dog doesn’t respond. Of course it doesn’t; it can’t speak. 

“Why do I feel compelled to talk to you? I must be going insane if I’m going to continue to talk to a dog.” The dog looks up at Regulus in an almost innocent way. Like it’s purposefully giving him puppy dog eyes. 

“You’re good, dog. You’re good.” He shakes his head. “Wish you had a name I could call you, but you don’t have a collar.” 

Regulus sighs, and looks back up to the stars. “You know, I know nearly everything about these stars. All the stories. The drama. Everything.” 

The dog makes, what Regulus interprets as, an intrigued sound. 

“It’s overrated.” The dog huffs again. If Regulus didn’t know any better he’d say the dog laughed. 

Despite the stars being overrated, he goes through all the constellations that are visible that night, rehashing all the stories that he was taught as a child. It looks as if the dog is actually listening to him. 

Soon he runs out of actual information, so he starts repeating some of his brother’s crazy stories about the stars. He comes to the last story he has, his favourite. The one about Canis Major and Leo playing all night long as long as nobody is looking. 

By the end of the stories, Regulus is actually smiling. He can’t remember the last time he genuinely smiled.

Not since Sirius—

Regulus’s eyes darken, and the smile instantly falls off of his face. The mood shifts. The dog could tell. It gets off of his lap and sits up, looking at him with its head cocked to the side. 

For some reason, he addresses the dog directly. Regulus doesn’t know why; it just feels right. “Some days I get so angry at the thought that you left me.” The dog’s eyes widen. “I mean you left me there. All alone. With them.” His tone was surprisingly calm and level, but his voice was nothing more than a whisper. 

“You left me. Yes, you tried to convince me to go with you, but you didn’t try hard enough.” He takes a shaky breath. “Some days, I think that if you just tried harder I would’ve gone with you. Or maybe you should’ve just stunned me and taken me with you anyway.”

Another breath.

“But then there’s days... the days I know I’m thinking correctly, where I know I would have never gone. Never stayed with you. No matter what.” 

At some point Regulus stopped looking at the dog, so he rectifies this. He looks the dog dead in its familiar grey eyes. 

He shakes his head. “I couldn’t have gone with you.” His voice is smaller than it’s ever been. He’s surprised the dog actually seems to hear him. It looks sad, hunching in on itself. Regulus pulls his knees up to his chest and looks away from the dog.

“If we both left, they would’ve gone after us.” The dog whimpers and nudges him. Regulus absentmindedly pets the dog’s head. “At least this way you get to be free. Safe. At least you’re okay.

“Because you were right.” He takes a breath. “If you stayed they would’ve killed you... Not on purpose, but the way things were escalating… I’m glad you left, if only for that reason.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Regulus’s voice breaks. “I don’t know what I _am_ doing without you.”

Regulus stops petting the dog, and it puts its paw on his hand. Regulus wipes away tears from his cheeks. When he started crying, he doesn’t know. The dog whines.

“I’m a fucking mess,” his voice raises in frustration. “I can’t function. I’m out here in zero degree weather because I haven’t slept properly in over a week.” Regulus laughs bitterly and throws his hands out.

“And now I’m talking to a fucking dog like it’s my brother!” He practically screams. “I’ve really lost it, haven’t I?”

He turns to the dog, and it gives him a pitying look. “Great,” he scoffs. “Now a dog is pitying me.” Regulus slams the back of his head against the stone he’s leaned up against.

The dog winces. 

Regulus gets arbitrarily angry at the thing. The dog has no right being a better listener than anyone in his entire life— having more sympathy than everyone else too. “Oh, go away you big mutt.” He starts shooing the dog away. “You’re no help! You’re probably not even allowed on school grounds. Get away!” 

He wants to raise his wand to it or throw something at it, but he can’t seem to muster up the energy to do that. Besides, deep down, he knows he’s wrong for being mean to the dog.

Regulus let’s out a scream and puts his head in his hands. He sits there until his breathing is even again. He doesn’t know how long that takes, but when he looks up again the dog is gone and the sun is just beginning to rise. 

He sighs and stands up. He casts a cleaning charm to make sure even his pajamas are as immaculate as ever, and he casts a glamour to hide his tear-stained and exhausted face.

He thinks that maybe the dog with the eerily familiar grey eyes was just a figment of his imagination. Maybe he actually slept last night, and it was just a weird dream. 

Regulus convinces himself that he made up the dog and that he’s completely fine with everything else going on in his life.

Completely fine.

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in January of Regulus's 6th year. I imagine him getting his mark the summer before his 6th year after he turns 16, like Draco.


End file.
